High praise for Scottish young gun Bannan

The Aston Villa youngster impressed his national manager on debut for Scotland in the international friendly, almost scoring when his 25-yard shot hit the woodwork before the ball deflected to Jamie Mackie who hit the back of the net from the rebound.

Bannan was one of seven Scotland debutants but Levein saved special praise for the 20-year-old.

“I’m happy with the result that was the most important thing. It was a worthwhile exercise, it gave me a chance to look at some players,” Levein said.

“To that end there were a number of players who did exactly what I hoped they would do. People don’t understand how difficult it is to make your international debut no matter who you are playing against.”

“I felt young Bannan in particular, after a shaky first five minutes or so, really settled down and showed glimpses of what the future is for Scottish football.”

Levein did not rule out using Bannan in Scotland’s quest to reach the Euro 2012 finals, when their qualifying campaign resumes in 10 months’ time.

“If he (Bannan) keeps playing the way he has I would be silly not to include him,” the manager said.

“He’s just a young boy, I don’t want to heap pressure on him but you saw he has something to offer.”

“His rise has been pretty meteoric. I have reason to believe once he has played 75-80 games in the Premier League and 10 internationals we will have a top-class player on our hands.”